Cast from the past

Boba Fett loves Mövenpick. Well, not Boba Fett himself — the fierce Mandalorian armour-plated bounty hunter from the Star Wars universe — but rather Jeremy Bulloch, the 66-year-old genial British actor lucky enough to have played the character in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

While visiting Toronto for a fan convention a few years back, Bulloch stumbled upon the tourist-friendly Yonge Street restaurant and was instantly stunned by “this wonderful place with all different sorts of food stations. It was absolutely lovely — different types of tastes everywhere you turn — and then you just swipe your card, pay for it and that was that. I desperately want to head back to the city again, and, of course, to the restaurant.”

While it may be odd to hear the man responsible for one of the most hard-edged characters in sci-fi history profess a love for rösti, Bulloch will get a chance to fulfil his culinary wish when he and other Star Wars icons hit the city this weekend for the 2011 Wizard World Toronto Comic Con. From appearances by Star Trek alumni to discussions on TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the convention promises all sorts of geek bait, plus, of course, some actual comic book-related exhibitions.

While derided in the past as nothing more than no-frills nerd gatherings, comic cons have enjoyed something of a cultural rennaissance over the past few years. The San Diego Comic-Con, which started off in 1970 as a humble showcase for comics and sci-fi novels, has morphed into the largest fan convention event in North America, with about 130,000 people attending the 2010 edition. Movie studios now routinely unveil their tentpole productions in San Diego, trucking in A-listers to promote their latest cash cows. (The entire cast of Joss Whedon’s forthcoming film The Avengers, for instance, showed up at this past July’s convention, complete with such bold names as Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson.)

Although Toronto’s Wizard Comic Con isn’t on the same level as San Diego (and faces stiff competition from August’s Fan Expo Canada), it’s still drawing a respectable roster of familiar genre faces, including a wealth of Star Wars vets who have all managed to make a fairly nice living out of decades-old performances.

“I average about two conventions a month, and we’ve been everywhere from Brazil to Japan,” says Bulloch, who, despite having only a handful of lines in the series, is one of the more popular guests a convention can have due to Fett’s cultural cachet. “With theatre productions, you get that kind of immediate gratification of applause and whistles from the audience, and it’s the same thing at these conventions. I never thought I’d become so famous for putting a bucket on my head.”

For many of the comic con attendees, their entire careers have become defined by Star Wars.

“It was a very good experience, a monumental one. I’ve become the quintessential Lando Calrissian,” says actor Billy Dee Williams, whose turn as the charming chief of Cloud City easily eclipses his decades of theatre and TV work in pop-culture’s collective memory. “I do a few conventions a year, a bit more lately just because I want to get out and I enjoy meeting the fans who have supported me throughout the years. It’s like going to a town hall meeting. … Plus, I get to see all the other cast members perodically, and it’s always nice to say hi.”

Indeed, as the years pass and the number of conventions grow, Star Wars alumni without the last names Ford, Fisher or Jones have developed into a sort of travelling repertory troupe, a group of “comic con comrades,” as Williams puts it.

“We all work together. You can’t go a day without saying, yeah, let’s go grab a beer afterward,” says Bulloch, who will be signing autographs and talking Tatooine with Williams, David Prowse (Darth Vader), Ray Park (Darth Maul), Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) at this weekend’s convention.

And while some fans can be overzealous — “I’ve seen grown men with Mandalorian warrior tattoos, and the odd girl who wants me to sign the top of their chest, while my wife is sitting right behind me,” says Bulloch — the actors are wise enough to realize it’s the Boba buffs who’ve kept them in the spotlight these past three decades.

“People sometimes think these fans don’t have a life, but they do, they’re just enthusiastic,” says Williams, who divides his time between acting and his “abstract reality” paintings (Toronto’s Liss Gallery will hold an exhibition of his new works March 18-19). “It’s also amazing how they keep up with what’s going on. Fans know more about Calrissian’s background than me, and I always enjoy hearing about his most recent adventures.”

Adds Bulloch: “Every day someone comes up to me and says I changed their life. Well, George Lucas changed their life, not me. But it’s still fun to hear.”

The Wizard World Toronto Comic Con takes place March 18-20 at Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre. For more information, visit wizardworld.com.